Japan Prize

Selection Process

Nomination and Selection Process

Every November, the Field Selection Committee of The Japan Prize Foundation designates and announces two fields in which the Japan Prize will be awarded two years hence. At the same time, the Foundation calls for over 15,000 nominators, strictly comprised of prominent scientists and researchers from around the world invited by the Foundation, to nominate the candidates through the web by JPNS (Japan Prize Nomination System). The deadline for nominations is the end of February of the following year.

For each field, a Selection Subcommittee conducts a rigorous evaluation of the candidates’ academic achievements. The conclusions are then forwarded to the Selection Committee, which conducts evaluations of candidates’ achievements from a wider perspective, including contributions to the progress of science and technology, and significant advancement towards the cause of world peace and prosperity, and finally the selected candidates are recommended for the Prize.

The recommendations are then sent to the Foundation’s Board of Directors, which makes the final decision on the winners.

The nomination and selection process takes almost two years from the time that the fields are decided. Every January, the winners of that year’s Japan Prize are announced. The Presentation Ceremony is held in April in Tokyo.

Members of the 2019 Japan Prize Selection Committee

Chairman

Makoto Asashima

Research Professor Academic Advisor, Teikyo University
Academic Advisor, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo

Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Professor, Center for Energy & Environmental Science Shinshu University

Koji Ishibashi

Chief Scientist, Advanced Device Laboratory, RIKEN

Yasuhiro Koike

Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University

Toshihiko Koseki

Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Kazue Kurihara

Professor, New Industry Creation Hatchery Center, Tohoku University

Kazuyuki Kuroda

Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University

Atsushi Maruyama

Professor, School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Kyoko Nozaki

Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo

Tamio Oguchi

Professor, The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University

Selection Subcommittee for the “Biological Production, Ecology” field

Chairman

Yoshihiro Hayashi

President/Director General, National Museum of Nature and Science

Deputy Chairman

Hiromichi Nagasawa

Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo

Member

Kazuyuki Inubushi

Professor, Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University

Futoshi Nakamura

Professor, Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University

Taikan Oki

Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S)
The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS)
The University of Tokyo

Masakazu Shimada

Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo

Tatsuya Sugawara

Professor, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University

Katsumi Tsukamoto

Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo
Specially Appointed Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo

Tetsukazu Yahara

Professor, Department of Biology, Kyushu University

Keitaro Yamanouchi

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo

( alphabetical order, titles as of January, 2019)

The Japan Prize Nomination System

The Foundation’s JPNS (Japan Prize Nomination System) on the Web facilitates the process of the nomination by the Japan Prize Official Nominators around the world. Additional details are available here.